Watch this before cooking with black pepper! A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.
Watch this before cooking with black pepper!
Black pepper (Piper nigrum)
🍃 Watch this before cooking with black pepper!
Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is famous for its berries, but the leaves are edible too, and in some regions they’re used just like betel leaves or bay leaves. Here are a few ways you can use them:
Cooking wrap: Fresh leaves can be used to wrap fish, meat, or rice before steaming or grilling, similar to banana or betel leaves. They add a mild peppery aroma.
Flavoring curries and soups: Whole leaves can be simmered in curries, broths, or stews to infuse a gentle peppery note, then removed before serving (like bay leaves).
Herbal teas: Fresh or dried leaves can be steeped with ginger, turmeric, or lemongrass to make a warming tea traditionally used for digestion and colds.
Chutneys and pastes: In South India, young pepper leaves are ground with coconut, tamarind, and chilies to make a tangy chutney.
Medicinal uses: Folk remedies use the leaves for coughs, sore throats, and as a poultice for muscle aches.
🍛 Black pepper leaf chutney
♨️Lightly saute 6-8 pepper leaves in a little oil.
♨️Blend with 1/2 cup grated coconut, 2 green chilies, tamarind, salt, and cumin.
♨️Optional: top with a quick tempering of mustard seeds and curry leaves.
♨️Serve with rice or dosa.
☕️ Pepper leaf tea - when you feel under the weather
Boil 2-3 leaves with a cup of water.
Add a slice of ginger and a pinch of turmeric (optional).
Simmer 5 minutes, strain, and sweeten with honey.
Both recipes give a warm, peppery aroma without being too spicy. Pepper leaves are milder than the berries, so you’ll get aroma more than heat.
Orchids have a mystique that sets them apart — elegant, exotic,
almost unreal in their perfection. But let’s be honest, not everyone
has
luck with the fancy ones that cling to trees or need greenhouse tricks.
Ground orchids are different. They grow in regular garden soil, bloom in
sun or shade, and come in all sorts of shapes and colors. They’re the
orchids you don’t have to fuss over.
Nun Orchid
(Phaius tankervilleae) – Ever wonder why it’s called the
Nun
Orchid? The flowers really do look like the white veil and brown habit nuns
used to wear. The plants send up spikes 3–4 ft tall with 10–20
fragrant blooms that open one after another for weeks. I like them best
tucked
under trees where they just keep spreading year after year.
Spathoglottis – The nonstop bloomer – If you want flowers
that
just don’t quit, this one’s it. Spathoglottis clumps up and
throws
spikes of purple, pink, or yellow that last for weeks, then keep coming back
through the summer. In warm spots they’ll bloom almost year-round.
Honestly, it’s one of the easiest orchids you’ll ever grow.
💲
Special Offer – 20% off Ground Orchids!
Get 20% OFF ground orchids with code
ORCHID2025
Min order $100. Excluding S/H, valid online only,
cannot be combined with other offers.
What flowers do NOT attract bees? A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.
What flowers do NOT attract bees?
Butterfly on a flower that doesn't attract bees
❌� What flowers do NOT attract bees?
Most tropical flowers bring in pollinators, and bees are usually first in line. But what if you’d rather avoid them? Maybe you’re allergic, or just don’t want bees buzzing around. Good news: some flowers attract butterflies, hummingbirds, moths, or even flies - but not bees.
👉 Quick rules:
✔️ Night-blooming + strong fragrance = moths or bats, not bees.
✔️ Red tubular flowers with little scent = hummingbirds or butterflies, not bees.
✔️ Rotten or fermented smell = flies, not bees.
✔️ Carnivorous plants = trap insects, no bee nectar.
1. Night-blooming, fragrant - moth and bat flowers
Bees forage by day, so many night-fragrant flowers skip them.
▫️Brugmansia - Angel’s Trumpet - big, hanging blooms, moth and bat pollinated.
September 11th remains one of the darkest days in our
nation’s memory, a tragedy that touched every life in some way. More
than
two decades later, we may come from different places, hold different views,
and
see the world through different lenses — but on this day, we stand
together in remembrance.
Like a young tree reaching toward the sky, we find strength
in renewal. Nature reminds us that healing takes root quietly and grows over
time. A branch in bloom, a sunrise after storm clouds, the steady rhythm of
the seasons — all speak of life’s resilience. As we honor the
lives lost, may we also honor the life that continues around us.
And we will keep remembering, together.
For us, trees and gardens are daily reminders of resilience. That’s
why we grow them, and share them with others who find hope in nature.
Explore our plants.
The secret to abundant dragon fruit harvests. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.
The secret to abundant dragon fruit harvests
✍️The secret to abundant dragon fruit harvests
🔴 Dragon fruit (Pitaya) thrives when it's fed regularly. For the best results, use Sunshine C-Cibus, a complete liquid fertilizer made for fruit trees. It is gentle enough to apply with every watering, all year long, and it gives your plants the steady nutrition they need to set more flowers and produce bigger harvests.
Night jasmine that disappears with sunrise: Parijat. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.
Night jasmine that disappears with sunrise: Parijat
Nyctanthes arbor-tristis - Parijat, Night Jasmine, Sad Tree, Tree of Sorrow
💔 Night jasmine that disappears with sunrise: Parijat
💔Nyctanthes arbor-tristis, Parijat, Night Jasmine, Sad Tree or Tree of Sorrow... What secret is hidden in this flower?
💔 Parijat is a small tree or shrub from South Asia known for its intensely perfumed white flowers with bright orange centers that open at dusk and fall by dawn.
Mostly for its scent and stories - but locals also use it in traditional remedies. The flowers are beloved in temple garlands and perfumery. Leaves, flowers, bark, and seeds are used in Ayurveda for treating fevers, sciatica, arthritis, and more. Extracts also show anti-inflammatory and liver-protective effects in modern studies.
It’s both fragrant and spiritual. Parijat is sacred in Hindu myth - some say Krishna brought it from heaven, others that it sprang from a grieving princess’s ashes. People plant it near temples or in small gardens not just for the scent, but for its cultural symbolism and graceful beauty.
Yes - if your climate cooperates. Parijat grows up to 10 feet tall, handles full sun or light shade, and thrives in well-drained soil with regular, moderate watering. It blooms best with monthly fertilizer and tolerates light cold (into the 30s F). In cooler areas, grow it in a container. Regular pruning helps it stay compact and flower more.
Four best low-growing perennials that bloom all summer. A Top Tropicals Garden Blog post.
Four best low-growing perennials that bloom all summer
Crossandra, Heliconia Lady Di, Plumbago, and Spathoglottis ground orchids.
🌷 Four best low-growing perennials that bloom all summer
🌼 1. Crossandra
Crossandra is one of those plants that never really takes a break. Its ruffled orange blooms pop almost nonstop in warm weather, making it a reliable color source for borders, pots, or even as a filler around taller shrubs. Unlike many flowering plants that fade in midsummer, Crossandra keeps going through heat and humidity, thriving where others give up. It's compact, easy to trim, and works beautifully in small gardens or patios.
🌼 2. Heliconia psittacorum Lady Di
Heliconia Lady Di adds a tropical accent with its upright, torch-like blooms in fiery orange and yellow. What makes this variety practical is its manageable size compared to giant heliconias - it fits well in small gardens and large pots. Its flowers last long, both on the plant and as cut flowers, making it popular for summer arrangements. Once established, it keeps sending up flower stalks all season, giving a steady display of color and drama.
🌼 3. Plumbago
Plumbago is a gardener's friend in hot climates because it covers a lot of ground and throws out flower clusters all summer (sky-blue, white or red). It's versatile - train it as a shrub, hedge, or let it spill over walls and trellises. The flowers attract butterflies, and the plant is low-maintenance, tolerating pruning, sandy soil, and neglect. If you need a reliable plant to soften fences or add a cool color contrast to reds and oranges in the garden, plumbago is a winner.
🌼 4. Spathoglottis ground orchids
Ground orchids like Spathoglottis are practical because they give you the exotic look of orchids without the fuss. These hardy, clumping perennials send up spikes of purple, pink, or yellow blooms that last for weeks, repeating through summer in warm climates. They’re perfect for edging walkways or filling beds where you want constant color with minimal care. Unlike potted orchids that bloom once and rest, Spathoglottis keeps producing flowers right in the ground, almost year-round in frost-free areas.
Visitors to our Fall Plant Market can enjoy a special walk-in discounts
and deals at the nursery. But we want our online friends to celebrate too!
Shop from home and take 20% off everything when you spend $125 or
more (excluding S/H, can't be combined with any other offer. Valid for
online purchase only). Just use code at checkout. Hurry — offer ends
Sunday, 09-07-2025.
September 11th remains one of the darkest days in our
nation’s memory, a tragedy that touched every life in some way. More
than
two decades later, we may come from different places, hold different views,
and
see the world through different lenses — but on this day, we stand
together in remembrance.
